Pogoplug Series 4 Multimedia Sharing Device POGO-V4-A3-01

by Pogoplug

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 6.5 x 2.3 x 7.8 inches ; 8 ounces
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B006I5MKZY
• Item model number: POGO-V4-A3-01
• Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank:
  • #15 in Camera & Photo > Accessories > Photo Studio > Storage & Presentation Materials
• Date first available at Amazon.com: December 5, 2011

Product Description

From the Manufacturer

Pogoplug Series 4 — Free Your Smartphone & Tablet

Stream your entire media library to your smartphone and tablet. Watch movies, listen to music and view photos on your mobile device. Automatically back up your device to your Pogoplug at home while on the road. Pogoplug Series 4 has more storage connectivity options than any previous model and includes high performance USB 3.0 and 2.5" SATA/USM inputs.

Stream your Media, Anywhere Stream your music, photo and video libraries over your Wi-Fi or cellular connection.

Back Up Your Mobile Device Back up your mobile device to your Pogoplug Mobile at home.

Expandable Storage Add up to 3 USB hard drives, an SD card and/or a 2.5" SATA/USM drive. No Storage included

Features

Backup your Smartphone & Tablet

Keep your memories safe by backing up your mobile device from anywhere using the Pogoplug mobile app. Set up automatic backups or manually back up the photos and videos you took on your mobile device to Pogoplug mobile.

60-Second Installation

Pogoplug Mobile is quick and easy to set up. Just add storage and go online to download Pogoplug software. Pick music, photos and videos to copy to your device and you are all set to start streaming!

Stream music, photos & videos

Free your mobile device from storage limits by importing all of your movies, music and photos to Pogoplug mobile. Stream your entire media library over your cellular connection or Wi-Fi.

Share massive files securely

Share individual files, folders or entire hard drives. Allow others to collaborate and upload to your folders or drives.

Free Mobile Apps

Pogoplug has free apps for Android™, iPhone® and iPad®. Download from Apple's® App Store or the Android™ Market. Access and stream your media wherever you are.

(Drive not included)

 

Flexibility and high performance

• Add your own storage
• 2 x USB 3.0
• 1 x USB 2.0
• SD card slot
• Removable cap reveals 2.5" SATA/USM (See image)

 
Pogoplug Software

Pogoplug's software makes it easy to view all of the files on your Pogoplug device and add more.

• View your photos and videos organized by date
• View your music by artist, album, genre or song
• Retrieve the media backed up from your mobile phone and transfer it back to your desktop
• Turn your computer into a Pogoplug and access the photos, music and videos on your computer on your mobile device

Pogoplug Apps

Pogoplug offers free mobile apps for iPhone®, iPad® and Android™ available in your device's app store or marketplace.

• Watch videos directly on your smartphone or tablet
• Listen to music and sort by artist, song, track or genre
• View photos
• Back up photos and videos taken on your mobile phone to your Pogoplug at home
• Share files to any email address

No subscription fees, no limits

• With Pogoplug, free yourself from subscription fees and storage limits
• Expandable storage
• No file size limits
• Free mobile apps for Android™, iPhone® and iPad®
• Free software for your Mac or PC

Using Pogoplug

1. Listen to music streaming from your Pogoplug Mobile at home.
   
   
   
2. View photos stored on your Pogoplug Mobile.
   
   
   
   
3. Stream Videos on your smartphone or tablet.
   
   
   
   

What's Inside: Pogoplug Series 4, Power cable, Ethernet cable, User manual
Power Requirements: 100-240 V, 50/60 HZ
Drive Connections: SD x 1, USB 3.0 x 2, USB 2.0 x 1, SATA/USM x 1 (drive not included)
Network Connection: Gigabit Ethernet
Drive Formats: NTFS, FAT, HFS+, EXT2, EXT3
Web Browsers: IE 8/9, Firefox 8, Safari 5, Chrome 15
Operating Systems: Microsoft Windows XP/7, Mac OS X 10.6.6 or aboveBrowsers
Compatible with: iPhone®, Android™, iPad®, Xbox 360® & Playstation® 3

Product Description

Pogoplug Series 4 is the easiest way to share and stream your files, photos, music and movies while on the road. Simply add storage and access all of your files through the internet. Pogoplug makes sharing massive files or folders easy and secure. You can send large files without uploading or attaching. Pogoplug Series 4 is fast and easy to setup, just add an SD card, external hard drive, flash drive or e-sata drive. Pogoplug comes with free mobile apps that are available for iPad and Android. Requires Windows XP/7, Apple OS 10.6.6 and above. Compatible web browsers are Microsoft Internet Explorer 8/9, Mozilla Firefox 5, Apple Safari 5 for Mac, Google Chrome 12. Also works with Xbox360 and Playstation 3.

Pogoplug Series 4 — Free Your Smartphone & Tablet

Stream your entire media library to your smartphone and tablet. Watch movies, listen to music and view photos on your mobile device. Automatically back up your device to your Pogoplug at home while on the road. Pogoplug Series 4 has more storage connectivity options than any previous model and includes high performance USB 3.0 and 2.5" SATA/USM inputs.

Stream your Media, Anywhere Stream your music, photo and video libraries over your Wi-Fi or cellular connection.

Back Up Your Mobile Device Back up your mobile device to your Pogoplug Mobile at home.

Expandable Storage Add up to 3 USB hard drives, an SD card and/or a 2.5" SATA/USM drive. No Storage included

Features

Backup your Smartphone & Tablet

Keep your memories safe by backing up your mobile device from anywhere using the Pogoplug mobile app. Set up automatic backups or manually back up the photos and videos you took on your mobile device to Pogoplug mobile.

60-Second Installation

Pogoplug Mobile is quick and easy to set up. Just add storage and go online to download Pogoplug software. Pick music, photos and videos to copy to your device and you are all set to start streaming!

Stream music, photos & videos

Free your mobile device from storage limits by importing all of your movies, music and photos to Pogoplug mobile. Stream your entire media library over your cellular connection or Wi-Fi.

Share massive files securely

Share individual files, folders or entire hard drives. Allow others to collaborate and upload to your folders or drives.

Free Mobile Apps

Pogoplug has free apps for Android™, iPhone® and iPad®. Download from Apple's® App Store or the Android™ Market. Access and stream your media wherever you are.

(Drive not included)

 

Flexibility and high performance

• Add your own storage
• 2 x USB 3.0
• 1 x USB 2.0
• SD card slot
• Removable cap reveals 2.5" SATA/USM (See image)

 
Pogoplug Software

Pogoplug's software makes it easy to view all of the files on your Pogoplug device and add more.

• View your photos and videos organized by date
• View your music by artist, album, genre or song
• Retrieve the media backed up from your mobile phone and transfer it back to your desktop
• Turn your computer into a Pogoplug and access the photos, music and videos on your computer on your mobile device

Pogoplug Apps

Pogoplug offers free mobile apps for iPhone®, iPad® and Android™ available in your device's app store or marketplace.

• Watch videos directly on your smartphone or tablet
• Listen to music and sort by artist, song, track or genre
• View photos
• Back up photos and videos taken on your mobile phone to your Pogoplug at home
• Share files to any email address

No subscription fees, no limits

• With Pogoplug, free yourself from subscription fees and storage limits
• Expandable storage
• No file size limits
• Free mobile apps for Android™, iPhone® and iPad®
• Free software for your Mac or PC

Using Pogoplug

1. Listen to music streaming from your Pogoplug Mobile at home.
   
   
   
2. View photos stored on your Pogoplug Mobile.
   
   
   
   
3. Stream Videos on your smartphone or tablet.
   
   
   
   

What's Inside: Pogoplug Series 4, Power cable, Ethernet cable, User manual
Power Requirements: 100-240 V, 50/60 HZ
Drive Connections: SD x 1, USB 3.0 x 2, USB 2.0 x 1, SATA/USM x 1 (drive not included)
Network Connection: Gigabit Ethernet
Drive Formats: NTFS, FAT, HFS+, EXT2, EXT3
Web Browsers: IE 8/9, Firefox 8, Safari 5, Chrome 15
Operating Systems: Microsoft Windows XP/7, Mac OS X 10.6.6 or aboveBrowsers
Compatible with: iPhone®, Android™, iPad®, Xbox 360® & Playstation® 3

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I finally have my own cloud, January 9, 2012

By 

Dennis Rongo "The Menace" (Sacramento, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Pogoplug Series 4 Multimedia Sharing Device POGO-V4-A3-01 (Electronics)

This works as advertised. I was able to get it running and my two external USB hard drives were recognized right away. Please note that the external hard drives has been partitioned in different formats and contains several gigabytes of data already. As far as the setup, it must have taken me less than five minutes to get everything up and running. This is also my first PogoPlug and bought it based upon reviews of previous models (at time of purchase, there weren't a lot of feedback for this model) so I took a little bit of a gamble.

PROS:
- Streaming on iPad, iPhone and Android works perfectly for music.
- Viewing any media on PS3 works perfect.
- It is instantaneously recognized on any device that's connected to the network.
- It is recognized as an additional drive once you install the software on Windows. This makes transferring of data easy since it works as if you're browsing locally.

CONS:
- Not 100% reliable when it comes to critical data since you're running your own hardware. Possible power outtage or failed hard drive will bring your cloud down.
- You can't create a playlist for music that you own so the app will list all your music in alphabetical order regardless of your folder structure. The apps can be improved in this area.
- The Android app has to convert the video before it can be watched since some file formats aren't supported.

All in all, this is a good buy if you want to bring all your media into one interface and access them anywhere. It's also handy for home use since you can watch my movies, and browse pictures on any device without having to copy the files on each device. The files can be shared also to anyone and has a similar feel of a Cloud service. I'm pretty satisfied so far and I highly recommend it.

20 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars UPDATE : Just another pogoplug, December 23, 2011

By 

J. Samuel "JHN Live" (San Jose, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Pogoplug Series 4 Multimedia Sharing Device POGO-V4-A3-01 (Electronics)

This is my second pogoplug and the last! I have used the first gen pogoplug more than a year ago. It did not work well as it should be, so finally I had to return it. This time I bought this on a company direct promotion thinking that pogoplug must be improved over the years. I would give 5Stars to their cloud service. However, their hardware is still crap. I tried to things work out straight 2 days with their customer support. Their support is very quick to respond, but no right workarounds provided. So initiated a return on this item as well. This is my last pogoplug product that I will ever do "beta" test.

About this particular 4 series product:

Pros:
Plenty of room for making huge personal cloud (2 USB 3 ports, 1 USB 2 port, 1 SATA 2.5" slot & 1 SD Card slot)
Slim/Compact design
Easy setup

Cons:
None of the Pros worked for me!

I have attached 2 USB 3.0 HDDs and 1 USB 2.0 HDD along with a 2.5" SATA HD. Only one attached to USB 2.0 recognized. Though, it was recognized I was never able to access it because the web interface and the pogoplug software was never able to complete the disk recognition / indexing process. Contacted Support and they asked me to check for HD errors by directly connecting HDs to a PC. I did those and none of my HDs has any errors. All of them worked perfectly on the PC.

After that, no workarounds provided by support and I could not access the only recognized HD after waiting for more than 15 hours. So I gave up.

UPDATE (12/27/11):
Today I got a full refund from pogoplug. Interestingly they did not want the hardware back. I had to sign a letter of destruction only. Usually companies get their devices back and refurbish them. In this case probably they are aware that it is not even worthy getting it back and refurbishing it.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Defeats the purpose of cloud computing, February 21, 2012

By 

R.D. Monsoon - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Pogoplug Series 4 Multimedia Sharing Device POGO-V4-A3-01 (Electronics)

(What's this?)

The whole point of cloud computing is freeing your data up from being tethered to a physical storage device. Pogoplug is an unnecessary piece of physical hardware. Let me explain.

Here's how Pogoplug works: You connect the device to your router (which puts it on the internet); you then plug a physical storage device into it (2.5-inch hard drive, USB storage device, external hard drive via USB, or SD card); now, you can access the content on that device via a web browser on any computer, your smartphone or tablet using using a free app, or your TV. Content on the drive can also be securely shared with friends. Sounds good? Here's why it's pointless for virtually all users.

Dropbox does essentially the same thing without hardware. Dropbox puts a cloud folder on your computer's hard drive. Anything saved in that folder is locally stored on your computer, but it's also saved in "the cloud" and can be accessed via web browser from any computer and on your smart phone or tablet. Sub folders can be shared as well as specific files. If you or a collaborator make a change to a file in the cloud, the version locally stored is synchronized to reflect that change. I extensively use it for work when collaborating on projects with people outside my company (so I basically use it as a shared drive among people not on the same network), as well as for personal files that I want to access when I'm not with my computer. So the end result of Dropbox and Pogoplug is the same, only there is no hardware with Dropbox, it works much better for collaboration, and Dropbox offers up to 8GB of free cloud storage.

I've been racking my brain trying to figure out specific scenarios of when I would want the ability to share a specific storage device with someone over the internet (or be able to access it remotely). The best I can come up with is if I were a photographer and wanted to share all the photos on my SD card or external hard drive with someone. I could plug the storage device into Pogoplug and my friend could go in there and look for the pictures they wanted to pull off. Another example is if I wanted to share an extremely large file with someone, such as several GB. While I could do that with Dropbox, it would first need to be uploaded it to the cloud which would take a while.

But if I was really a power user who needed the ability to regularly collaborate/share extremely large data files and/or large number of files, I would either buy one of the premium Dropbox accounts, or create a virtual private network and provide log in to my collaborators.

Despite all of this criticism, I will concede that it was kinda neat that when I plugged my external hard drive into Pogoplug that I could remotely access the 100 GB worth of photos on it (but I cannot think of how an instance where I would need to share my entire photo collection).

So before plunking down what is a considerable amount of money for Pogoplug, carefully consider if Dropbox will ultimately do the same thing, but for free.